Inside/Outside
Lily came down with a cold Saturday night, so I decided we should stay home all day Sunday to let her rest. No church in the morning. No laser tag with the old small group in the afternoon. But that’s okay. I keep a list of fun things to do with Hannah and Lily! Let’s check that list…
- Go to a drive-in movie
- Go hiking at Percy Warner Park
- Try some aerial photography via balloon mapping
- Visit Reelfoot Lake State Park to see the bald eagles
- Go to a Vanderbilt women’s basketball game
- Go stargazing away from the city lights
See the pattern? I’m an outside dad.
I’m not into camping or fishing or hunting. No, by “outside dad” I mean that when I want to have fun with my kids, my first impulse is to leave the house. To go outside somewhere and do something fun. Like go for a walk in a state park. Or kick around a soccer ball. Or go to the zoo. Or take a road trip to visit Grandma. The more exploration involved, the better.
It’s a lot of fun being an outside dad, but when weather or illness means we have to stay inside… Well, that’s trouble.
This past Sunday, with Lily’s cold keeping us housebound, we went a little stir crazy. I didn’t have a game plan, so the girls bounced from one sort of entertainment to the next, most involving screens of various sizes. Half the time they wanted to do different things, so I needed to be in two places at once. Three if you count all the laundry I needed to do. Four if you counted that big presentation I had to get ready for Monday.
Finally, late in the afternoon, after looking fruitlessly at my “fun things to do” list for the third time, it hit me that I needed to stop being an outside dad and turn into an inside dad for the duration. I’m not good with being creative on the spot, so I looked over my list again, trying to find some inspiration for inside fun. Watch a movie? No, too much screen time already. Aerial photography? My condo’s ceilings are tall, but not that tall. Stargazing? Now that I could work with.
A few minutes later, the girls and I had collected every glowing object we could find in the house. We went in their room, turned off the lights and shut the door, and started switching on our collection of flashlights and light sabers. Technically we did a little stargazing, by spending about 30 seconds looking at the glow-in-the-dark stars Hannah put on the ceiling above her bed. But mostly we acted silly, dancing around the room, waving our light sabers to the music Hannah played on her CD player. Later we turned off the music, shone our flash lights at the wall, and worked on our shadow puppet skills. Eventually, we just played with super-hero action figures in the near dark.
It didn’t really matter what we did. The change of pace provided by turning off the lights was just what we needed to get through the rest of our day at home. The rest of the night went smoothly. The girls even went to bed on time.
Here’s where I’d like your help. I’m an outside dad, but sometimes I need to be an inside dad. I need ideas. What are some of the fun things you’ve done with your kids without leaving your house? Share your tips in the comments section!
Image: “Threshold,” marceline, Flickr (CC)